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Inter-religious Conflicts and Reli~ious Education in Contemporary Korea
1. M ulti-religious Situation in Korea
11. Contemporary Religious Conflicts and
Religious Education
m. Structure of Religious Education in Korea
N. Regularization of “Religion" Curriculum and
Inter-religious Dialogue
Kim, Chong-suh**
V. ProbJems and Prospects of Official Religious
Education in Korea
1 . Multi-religious Situation in Korea
Contemporary Korean religíon conslsts ot dlverse torms, such as natlve
Shamanism (Musok) , Confucianism, Taoism , Buddhism , Christianity and new
religions. According to the Population Census released in 1995 by the Korea
National Statistics Offtce, J) there was an estimate of 10,320,000 Buddhists,
8,760,000 Protestants, 2,950,000 Catholics and only 210,000 Confucianists in
Korea. Half of the Korean population consider themselves to be religious and, roughly speaking, one half of the religious people are Christians and the other
* This is the paper read in the “ Religion and Education" Panel of the 19th Meeting of IAHR (lnternational Association for the History of Religions) held at the Tokyo, Japan on the 24th to the 31 th of March, 2005.
** Seoul N ational U niversity 1) This Population Cεnsus has been acknowledged as the most credible religious
population sUfvey because it is most recent statistics that is based on the total popu lation.
154 종교와 문화
half, adherents of traditional religions like Buddhism and Confucianism , etc.
Koreans are indeed religious, but more significantly, various religions have
coexisted together in an uneasy tension in Korea. A particularly interesting
characteristic of Korea’s m ulti-religious tradition is that Eastern religions and
Western religions have all maintained a considerable influence on Korean
society at the same time. Japan and the United States are also often considered
to be multi-religious, yet further investigation reveals that their cases are quite
different from that of Korea in a true sense.
In Japan, only Eastern religions such as Shinto and Buddhism are the
dominant religions. Furthermore, the multi-religious situation in the United
States, which has recently instigated theoretical debate, is strongly founded on
Judeo-Christian traditions. Strictly speaking, the conflict bεtween Baptists or
Methodists and Catholics in the United States is more a matter of discord
between denominations rather than full-blown inter-religious conflicts. Thus, it
is c1ear that the religious situation in Japan and the United States is quite
distinct from that of Korea’s unprecedented case, which encompasses both
Eastern and Western religious traditions without any one particular religion
taking precedence over another.
Naturally, a multi-religious situation can create a number of difficulties for
any society. Korea cannot be an exception. Above all, Korea’s unusual form of
multi-religious situation often produces tricky conflicts that would be
unimaginable in other countries.
Historically, the severest religious conflict in traditional Korea occurred
between Confucianism and Buddhism in the 14th century, when the Chosun
dynasty was newly established with Confucianism as the ruling ideology.
Confucianists castigated Buddhism for being corrupt and being derelict of their
duty of filial piety, and for being overly focused on otherworldly matters.
However, after the 18th century, strong influences of Catholicism that arrived
with the influx of Western culture brought together Confucianism and
Buddhism against a common foe. The pact between Confucianism and
Buddhism under the rubric of tradition developed while both of these religions
Inter-religious Conflicts and Religious Education in Contemporary Korea 155
attempted to cope with the invasion of the heterogeneous Western religious
culture. The Catholic-Confucian conflict deepened when Catholicism moved
beyond underground activities and came into collision more directly with
traditional norms. This can be epitomized by an incident in the late 18th
century, when a Catholic in Korea did not follow the Confucian funeral ritual
for his deceased mother. Following this incident, Catholics began to be
persecuted and many became martyrs.
n. Contemporary Religious Conflicts and
Religious Education
In the latter half of the 20th century, the freedom of religion and the
separation of church and state were constitutionaJ1y declared in Korea. This
meant the actual institutJonalization of religious pluralism in Korean society,
and conflicts between religions began to be considered in terms of institutional
issues. Since there is no longer a state-supported religion and the problems of
heresy cannot be raised, inter-religious conflicts become inter-organizational
issues rather than doctrinal or ritual conflicts.
Furthermore, with the rapid organizational growth of most religions after the
1970s, the multi-religious situation in Korea became a more complicated íssue.
Once harshly persecuted Catholìcs became the most powerful religious group in
Korea and even invited the Pope to address the painful past of anti-Christian
persecution. Protestants, on their part, were able to gather millions of followers
together for a revlval servlce at a plaza in Seoul without any public
advertisement what so ever.2) While Christianity has grown very rapidly in
2) In March 1984, the New York Times noted that Christianity in Korea had doubled in size during the past 10 years and would double again in the next 10 years. According to the Population Censuses of 1985 and 1995, the number of Catholics increased by 58%, while the number of Protestants increased by 35% during this 10 year period. Currently, there are over 50.000 Chrístian churches and more than 12,000 Buddhist temples in Korea. It goes without saying that the Yoyuido Full
156 종교와 문화
Korea since the 20th century, Buddhism and other traditional religions have also
gradually worked to modernize their organizations. They have been attempting
to redraw the religious power map after the modernization period when
Christians dominated the religious landscape.
There has been a reevaluation of Shamanism, which had been ostracized for
being a superstition during the modernization period. It is unfortunate that
hostility against Shamanism still remains today. A Shaman who prays at Mt.
Samgak near Seoul says that she is more afraid of fanatical Protestants who
attack shamans than the gods or spirits. Nevertheless, Korean Shamanism is
increasingly considered to be an important and basic part of the spirituality of
the Korean people.
New religions that have their roots in Korean folk traditions have also been
in conflict with fundamental Protestantism , while they are on relatively good
terms with Catholicism that has adopted a policy of tolerance towards other
religions. This conflict is best exemplified by the debate in the 1980s over the
construction of the Tangun (the legendary founder of Korea) sanctuary.
Statements were issued from both the new folk religious groups, who supported
such construction, and Protestant groups, who were against worshiping Tangun
as an ancestor. The issuing of statements caused a great controversy.
It is interesting to note that Protestant opposition to the construction of the
Tangun sanctuary by new folk religions has helped Protestants themselves
transcend their inter-denominational differences. On the other hand, new folk
religions garnered national attention through the mass media and started their
own signature-gathering campaigns. This contlict degenerated into physical
outbreaks in some places. In a sense, it warned Koreans of the danger of
inter-organizational dissension that should be avoided.
But more than any other religion , Buddhism takes the main position among
Korea’s traditional religions today. Of course, Buddhism is still slow in its
Gospel Church in Seoul is still the biggest Christian church in the world having the largest number of members and several Korean churches are included among the world ’s 20 largest churches.
lnter-religious Conflicts and Religious Education in Contemporary Korea 151
revival of lay Buddhist religious Iife, since for many years its practice has
been restricted to remote mountain temples. However, active Buddhist
missionary work in urban areas has recently helped to increase the actual
influence of Buddhism in. Korea. Buddhism has gone beyond its Iimited
historical domain and has increased its social influence enough to speak up in
contemporary Korea. Now, it has become impossible for Protestantism to
pursue missionary work without taking Buddhism into consideration. In this
context, Buddhists have successfully lobbied the government in having the
Buddha’s birthday recognized as a national holiday.
Both traditional Eastern religions and Western religions have come to cl a:im
their respective rights. For example, national events and celebrations often
include three ceremonial formalities in contemporary Korea. Namely, Catholic,
Protestant and Buddhist ceremonies are usually all performed. In Korea, as is
the case with the national funeral ceremonies, one may die once physically, but
three times ritually through religious ceremonies of the three religions. It is not
uncommon that multiple religious funeral ceremonies are held simultaneously to
accord with the different religions of the various family members. This
multi-religious culture can also be seen in the religious Iife in the military and
religious activities held in prison.
Naturally, the multi-religious environment can also lead to conflict. There
have been incidences of Christians discriminating against Buddhists in the
military. There have also been cases of Protestants damaging temple. property
Actually, the multi-religious situation of Korea is often referred to as a
dormant volcano. Especially, recent conflicts hint at the possibility of
irrecoverable calamities. Such conflicts between r려igions can cause social
problems and eventually develop into a national social disaster.
As expected, such religious conflicts have also developed into the field of
education in contemporary Korea. First, there have often been controversies
about a strict enforcement of religious education in parochial schools. In
adomon, mere has been much controversy over the excessive doctrinal
propaganda in Christian schools. In a recent incident, a certain Christian high
158 종교와 문화
school student named Kang Uiseok refused to attend a forced chapel and went
on a hunger strike demanding religious freedom. As a result, he was expelled
from the school after which he filed a lawsuit against the school board .3 l
On the other hand, Protestants themselves have asserted that the idea of
“ devotion to the welfare of mankind (Hongikingan) ," derived from the
legendary national founder, Tangun , as advocated in the Korean Education Law
(presently titled Basic Law of Education) was not based upon historical facts
and was influenced by chauvinistic and biased views of a particular new folk
religion.4) These Protestants, instead, have argued that there should be more
emphasis placed on the idea of democracy. However, most of new fì이k
religious groups have refuted Protestants' assertion by appealing to the idea of
a national spirit.
In 1984, Buddhists criticized the Christian-centered bias of national moral
education textbooks used in Korean high schools and colleges. And Buddhists
have questioned whether Christianity should be taught as part of the national
moral education like traditional Eastern religions. This may seem to be a mere
academic dispute, but the controversy over the textbooks reminded Buddhists of
their contemporary situation of anti-Buddhist persecution.
In 1990s, a new fì이k religious group founded on a special method of
meditation and breathing campaigned for the construction of Tangun statute in
elementary schools nationwide and the Protestants strongly opposed it. The new
folk religious group argued that it was not for religious worship but as an act
of basic respect for the legendary national founder. The Protestants responded
by denouncing that the campaign was a religious exercise of propaganda by a
particular religious body and a clear violation of the constitution.
It is needless to continue with more examples. There have continually been
serious religious conflicts in Korea. It is well known that most religions have
3) Related to this case, some Buddhist bodies supported a non-government organization to hold a public hearing on the topic of religious freedom and religious education.
4) lt is identified as Daejonggyo founded by Na Cheol. There are still many new f이k religious groups that worship Tangun in Korea.
lnter-religious Conf1icts and Religious Education in Contemporary Korea 159
emphasized peace and love. Yet, in fact, they have been the core .source of
social conflicts in Korea. There are many reasons for such religious conflicts,
but ignorance of each other is Iikely to be the most fundamental cause. How
could Protestants cut off the heads of traditional Korean ‘totem ’ poles
(Jangseung) , which have long been the symbols of tutelary deities in villages, if they knew the true meaning behind these spiritually deep-rooted traditions?
How could it happen that fanatical Protestants beheaded the statues of the
Buddha with axes or drew the sign of the cross on the foreheads of the
Buddha statues, if they knew? AII miseries have basically originated from
mutual ignorance.
It is critically significant that reli훌ions should firstly know about other
religions in order to avoid such conflicts. If they know about other religions, many conflicts will be reasonably overcome. Of course, it is one way of
knowing indirectly about other religions to read books about them and to refer
to audio-visual materials of them. However. it is more desirable for religious
people to meet each other directly and talk to each other frankly.
Accordingly, it is said that inter-religious dialogues have been emphasil경d in
case of religious conflicts. Once they meet and talk, religious groups will come
to understand each other. Once they understand each other. they will also come
to understand how valuable each religion is to the respective groups. If
religions could be understood to be valuable to each other, there would no
longer exist conflicts between them. It is in this context that inter-religious
dialogues should be noted in contemporary multi-religious situation.
Up to now, most inter-religious dialogues have not been successful as
expected, mainly because they are just occasionally and held between only
re.ligious leaders. In this sense. religious education might be one of the most
effective inter.reJigious dialogues today. Students as laypeople can have a
chance to reg띠arly meet and talk together directly and widely through religious
educaüon. In particular. the recent regularization of “ religion" curriculum in
official education would be very productive in terms of such an inter-religious
dialogue against religious conflicts in contemporary Korea. Now. let me
160 종교와 문화
introduce the basic structure of Korean religious education, before 1 explain the
Korean heuristic case.
m. Structure of Religious Education in Korea
M odern education is sharply distinguished from the traditional education in
the history of Korean education. Traditional education in Korean society was
mainly developed on the basis of both Buddhism and Confucianism.
Accordingly, there was no strict separation between secular education and
religious education and thus , in a sense, the secular was undifferentiated from
the religious in the domain of education. For example, Seowon , which was one
of the representative private schools in traditional Korea, served not only as an
academic lecture hall but also as a memorial hall for the great Confucian
scholars and loyal subjects of the past
It was not until the end of 19th century when Protestantism was transmitted
and Western style schools were established that modern education began to
separate from religion. In 1884, the government officially declared the adoption
of the modern educational system. Then elementary schools appeared and
Western style middle and high schools followed. As the modern Korean
educational system emerged, education came to occupy its own autonomous
position distinguished from religion.
Of course, traditional education was not immediately overwhelmed by the
modern education and had not completely disappeared after the start of the
modernization of education in Korea. Modern education partially included
religious education as well as purely secular education. Some part of traditional
Confucian education still continues with the teaching of Chinese characters ,
though it has been changed much. The traditional Buddhist education has also
been uniquely transformed and kept up in temples. But they belong to a kind
of non-official (religious) education managed by the educational institutions of
the particular religious bodies themselves. Christian seminariεs might also be
lnter-religious Conflicts and Religious Education in Contemporary Korea 161
considered in a similar context, even if the government offidally accredits
some of them like secular colleges.
As modern education came to be separated from the religious domain and
formed an autonomous domain, official (seωlar) schools emerged as centers of
official education. Modern schools came to provide a curriculum that was
divided into specialized topics, such as mathematics, science, foreign languages,
etc., which were very different from the undifferentiated curriculum of the
traditional schools. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the religious contents
of the traditional education become meaningless. Thus, the modern secular
education includes a lot of religious contents in its non-religious courses like
‘history,’ ‘ethics,’ ‘society,’ etc. Furthermore, official (secular) schools established
by religious orders have taught religion with a special emphasis on their goals
of mission and self-cultivation.
<T ABLE 1> Religious Education and Secular Education in Korèa
<Tradit빠ducati빨elig빠 Secular)
Religious Education Modern Education <
" Sec띠ar Education
According to the current Korean Constitution, “ AIl the people should have
the freedom of religion. The Establishment should not be allowed and religion
should be separated from the state." (Artic/e 20) The so.called principles of
‘religious freedom ’ and ‘No Establishment (the separation of church & state) ’
are codified in Korea as in most modern countries. Related to the provision of
No Establishment, the. Korean Basic Law 01 Education stipulates that “ the
public schools established by the state or the local self.govemment should not
give religious education for a particular religion."(Artic/e 6)5)
5) This has been often misunderstood and not on1y pub1ic schoo1s but a1so private schooJs have regarded reJigíous educatíon as a taboo. Höwever, in fact, the current Korean Basíc Law 0/ Education stip띠ates nothing at all in terms of the religíous education of private sehools. Thus, private (especíally, religiously
162 종교와 문화
Strictly speaking, the notion of “ religious education for a particular religion"
in the Basic Law 0/ Education means education as a part of religious activities
like proselytism. In other words, it does not matter that they teach religion as
a part of human cultural phenomena or a social institution on academic or
humanistic dimensions. The education of religion as the object of. academic
inquiry is not a problem. Accordingly, current curricula of ‘ society ’ and
‘morals ’ in elementary and middle schools and those of ‘history,’ ‘ethics,’
‘society and culture ,’ etc. in high schools contain a considerable portion related
to particular religions. However, religious contents in such a secular curriculum
are not intended to understand religion itself and they deal away with religion
in their own way. Thus, understanding religions is not very systematic and just
fragmentary. Textbooks are often biased and incorrect, because scholars of
religion did not write them.
On the other hand, the mainline institutions of religious education in Korea
are naturally religiously established (private) schools. They are usually officially
certified educational institutions that are established and mostly managed by
religious bodies. The number of the religiously established schools from
elementary schools to colleges is about 400 in Korea today. There are about
20 Buddhist-established middle and high schools and a little more than 270
Christian-established middle and high schools among them. The number of such
religiously established schools amounts to the 10% of all the middle and high
schools.
The religiously established middle and high schools are official educational
institutions accredited by the government and thus they also offer a secular
curriculum , as is the case with non-religiously established schools as well as
public schools. But, at the same time, they usually impose the attendance of
regular worship services Iike chapels and more than one hour of religious
curriculumon their students weekly, since they were originally estabtished to
established) schools, in its purely legal sense, can give even religious education for a particular religion, such as mission-oriented education, though it might be considered a violation of the constitutional principle of church & state separation.
Inter-religious Conflicts and Religious Education in Contemporary Korea 163
realize reIigious goals.6)
<TABLE 2> Contemporary Korean School System in Relation to ReIigion
/ PubIic school - government estabIished school <omcial (secular) SChool< non religious빼ished scho이
、 Private school < religiously established school
Non-official (religious) school 、 - (Private) parochial school ‘ like the Bible school
Here, it should be noted that religiously estabIished middle and high schools
had individually managed the reIigious curriculum in their own ways until
19708: courses were offered as “ the Bible" for the Christian냉stablished m iddle
and high schools and as “Buddhism" for the Buddhist-established middle and
high schools. In other words, these reIigiously established schools had not
offered religious courses as a regular curriculum but as an irregular (non-credit)
curriculum. Naturally, this presented contradictions and difficult situations in
religiously established schools.
For example, teachers for reIigious courses could not get a teacher's
certificate accredited by the government and thus they had to be employed as
a supporting staff and not regular teachers. As a result, they could not enjoy
the same rights as regular teachers in terms of their status, pension and etc ..
Students also used to neglect reIigious courses, because they spent more time
in other regular courses.
In this context, it is ‘ noteworthy that Korean Ministry of Education should
include ‘religion ’ courses into the regular accredited . curriculum of official
education in 1982. This was the regularization of religious curriculum in
~) ft is- true that such a manaatory impositio l1 is no problem in terms ot'‘ the current Bosic Low 01 EdlJcotion, as it was above mentioned. But it òas often been accused of l>eing unconslitutiona l. Nevertheless, it seems that the government has connived such a comp비sory religious activities of the religiously established schools, because only public schoots cannot imølement the national demand of education in Korean situation.
164 종교와 문화
Korean middle and high schools. That is, in order to remedy the limping
actualities of religiously established schools, the regularization was initiated at
the request of the religiously established schools themselves and was not at all
the result of soliciting by the state or the educatiönal communities. But this
regularization was expansively implemented in all the middle and high schools
in Korea on the pretext of self-cultivation and humanistic liberal education for
students. In effect, religious education became a part of official education in
contemporary Korea through the regularization of religious curriculum in middle
and high schools.
IV. Regularization of “ Religion" Curriculum
and Inter-religious Oialogue
For the first time, in the modern history of Korean education, “ religion" as a
regular course in an official education was enacted as an elective course with
other courses such as ψhilosophy ," “ logic ," “ psychology" and “ education" as
outlined in the 4'" Curricu/a ψr High Schoo/. (1 982-1988, Ministry of
Edllcation 442) Above all, it is important that this regularization applies to all
the high schoo1 students as well as the students of re1igious1y established
schoo1s in Korea. That is, not only religiously established schools but also all
the high schoo1s including public schools and non-re1igiously established private
schools have come to be able to offer “ religion" as a regular elective
curriculum. Strictly speaking, if a certain school offered “ religion" as an
elective curriculum , it is stipulated that the school has only to offer students
one other elective course, in order to give the students a choice to not take
“ religion."7)
In the meantime, the Curricula for High School has continually changed
every five years and the 7''' Curricula ψr High School (2002-2007) is enacted
7) This seems to havε been added to avoid the problem of unconstitutionality against the forced “ religion" course.
lnter-religious Conflicts and Religious Education in Contemporary Korea 165
now. However, related to religious curriculum, the Curricilla for High Schoo/
has made just minor revisions: “consumer economics," “ecology and
environment" and etc. have been added as the alternative elective courses for
“ religion." Middle and high schools have come to offer these elective courses
including “religion" for 1 to 4 hours in a week.
In other words, the regularization of religious curriculum as an el,ective
course (firstly indicated in the 4'h Curricu/a for High Schoo l) does not mean
that the curriculum was newly created for religiously established middle and
high schools. Rather, significance lies in the fact that the old courses taught as
“ the Bible" or “ Buddhism" have come to be regularized into elective courses.
However, such regularization of religious courses in religiously established
schools also meant that they gave up previous autonomous and even arbitrary
curriculum and had to certify the characteristics of the curriculum as part of
the official education. It was not until the 6'h Curricula for High Schoo/
(1995-2001) that the concrete contents and framework of “ religion" curriculum
were formed. It was not an easy task to formulate the contents, because a
standardized common “religion" curriculum had to be developed for all the
students including even non-religious students of non-religious public schools.
This meant a resolute academic generalization of the stereotyped dogmatic
teachings, practices and church histories that the religiously established schools
had taught just for their own religion. Naturally, the new curriculum put more
emphasis on the contents about general theories and cultural traditions of
religions. However, the old mission-oriented trends of religiously established
schools that had played a leading role for the regularization of the “ religion"
curriculum could not be very easily discarded at once. Thus, it still being a
transitional period, the two aspects of the situation had to be eclectically
reflected. The new content of the “ religion" curriculum was developed as
follows.
166 종교와 문화
<T ABLE 3> The “ Religion" Frarnework of the 6th Curricula for H생h School8 )
Sections
1. Human and Religion
2. World Culture and Religion
3. Korean Culture and Religion
4. Understanding of Religious
Exper미iences
5. Modern Society and Religion
6. Teachings and History of
a Particular Religion
Contents
Religions in People’s Life
Believing and Understanding
Encounter with the Ultimate Reality
Formation of the Religious Personality
Traditions and Thoughts of Hinduism,
Buddhism , Confucianism , Taoism , Christianity,
Islam and the Other Religions
Korean Folk Beliefs, New Religions
The Acculturation of Buddhism , Confucianism , Taoism , Christianity and Islam
Perspectives of Faith
Rituals and Religious Practices
Religious Community
Modern Meaning of the Sacred Literature
Religion Confronting Secular Culture
Inter-religious Dialogue
Religion and Ideal Society
Cannon of the Religion
Teachings of the Religion
Religion in Daily Practices
Religion and Future in Korea
The frarnework of the contents consists of 6 sections, arnong which the
sections 1, 4 and 5 fell into general theories of religion and sections 2 and 3
were related to the religious traditions. Section 6 was arranged in order to
accornrnodate for the already existing religious knowledge of the religiously
established schools.9) It rnight be said that the two sides of the religious
8) This is the first concrete framework for the “ religion" course of the regular curriculum in Korea. I prepared the first draft of this framework after which public hearings and examining committees were held. Then the draft was partially revised (in particular, section 6 was added) and officially approved by the M inistry of Education like the above.
9) Here, it should be noted that the “section" of the framework does not mean the “ chapter" of a textbook or the arrangemènt of school hours for students. Actually, religiously established schools seriously opposed the framework , arguing that it
lnter-religious Conflicts and Religious Education in Contemporary Korea 167
education, namely official education. and parochial education, were pragmatically
negotiated. The compromise of the two ideas has also been regarded. as the
core issue of the “religion" curriculum for middle and high schools. in Korea
until now.
The two enas wltllln tne "rellglon" cUrrIculum are also harmoniously
maintained in the current 7th Curricu/a for High Schoòl (2002-2007),10), even
despite reoccurring intense confrontations. Nevertheless, it can be said that the
academic demand has gradually strengthened, while the mission-oriented
tendencies have weakened.
Above all, it is significant that scholars, teachers and even administrators and
staffs of education from different religious backgrounds have come together to
create a “ religion" curriculum. There has not been any chance for them to talk
to each other and to come to know other religions before. But through this
forced them to reduce the existing mission-oriented contents. Despite the above framework, t1exib iHty was, in fact, tacitly allowed for the schools to take their textbooks and lessons more fitting to their needs. Accordingly, textbooks that were published in conformity with the “ religion" curriculum was approximately divided into 30-40% of general theory and religious tradition, and 60-70% of particular religious contents.
10) <TABLE 4: The “Religion" Framework of the 7'h Curricu/a for High School Sections Contents
1. Human and Religion Ultimate Questions and Problems, Encounter with Religion and Problem-solving, Knowing ant! Believing, Meaning and Role of Religion
2. Understanding Religious Various Views of Life, Views of Cosmos, History Experience and Death, Cannon and Religious Norm, Ritual and
Religious Practice 3. Other Religious Traditions Religious Thoughts and Its Backgrounds, Truth and
Enlightenment, Understanding Religious Characteristics 4. World Religions 없Id Culture Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and
5. Religious Understanding Human and Nature
6. Korean Religion and Culture
7. Religious Community
8. The Tradition and Thoughts )f a Partìcular Relígion
etc. Various Views of Human, Religious Views of Human and Nature, Science and Religion Korean Folk Religion, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity, New Religions and Culture The Idea and Structure of Community, Social Function of Religion, Inter-religious Compromise ana Coexistence, Formation of Religious Persona’ity Cannon, Dogma and History of the Religìon, the Religious Life, Korean Religion and Culture Creation, My Plan for Religious Li fe
168 종교와 문화
process they came to realize the significance of the unique multi-religious
situation . in Korea. There was a mutual agreement that the “ religion" course as
part of the official education should stand in the vanguard of overcoming
religious conflicts in Korea. It has been re-emphasized that students should
learn about other religions and develop their ability to understand it through
the “ religion" curriculum.
The “ religion" textbooks written on the basis of the curriculum should follow
official procedures imposed by the Ministry of Education in order to become
“ authorized textbooks." The actual authorization is a matter under the
jurisdiction of the Local Office of Education. The Local Office of Education
usually entrusts professors of religious studies and high school teachers from
different religious background with examining authorization. Referring to their
evaluation, the Local Office of Education then exercises its right of authorization.
The most important in the authorization procedure of textbooks is to indicate
the factual mistakes of the contents and , furthermore , to judge and correct
slanderous or distorted descriptions against other religions. ll ) During the
examination of authorization, professors of religious studies and teachers who
are monks, nuns and ministers usually meet each other for the first time and
iron out conflicting religious views for a sound religious education. Because
these procedures are opened to the public, scholars from other religions are
often invited to write sections about different religions. In the meantime, it
could be said that a “practical" inter-religious dialogue happens on a deep
dimension.
11) I have taken part in such authorization procedures several times as an examining committee chairman. It is difficult to closely examine whether the textbooks are written in accordance with the current official curriculum , because not enough time is usually given for a precise examination. Old mission-oriented style textbooks are often submitted for authorization. Most textbooks are still not titled as just “ Religion" but “ Religion (Christianity)" or “ Religion (8uddhism)." It is a gradual trend for the textbooks to extend the affirmative contents of “ general theories" and “other religions." That is, the textbooks seem to be rapidly improving in their quality , every time the new ones are examined. Of course, some textbooks failed in the examination. However, most have passed on the condition of error deletion , revision and complement in deference to the author’s mtentlon.
lnter-religious Conflicts and Religious Education in ContemporarY Korea 1'69
As “ religion" curriculum was officially regularized, the teachers of religion
courses have experienced a big change in their official status. For the first time, they obtained a teachers’ certificate accredited by the state and their status has
come to be. legally guaranteed. They became a regular teacher in its true sense:
they were no longer different from the teachers of other courses such as
mathematics or science and not just a supporting staff. lt , meant that a regular.
teaching credential for “ religion" was needed in order to be a teacher of a
“religion" course, differently from how such teachers were informally
recommended by the religious schools Iike seminaries or Buddhist colleges
previously. This means that a candidate for a “ religion" teacher should complete
a fixed number of courses related to religious studies and educatìon.12) Most
seminaries and departments related to theology, Buddhist studies as well as
religious studies should offer required courses for a “ religion" teaching
credentials and also recruit new faculty members to teach such courses for future
teachers. N aturally, concems about other religions and religious studies have
increased through new lectures, seminars, symposiums and etc. in the seminaries
and departments of colleges and universities.
However, in the beginning, all the existing parochial teachers without
“ religion" teaching credentials could oot suddenly be dismissed and be replaced
by new certificated teachers. . Thus a year-Iong temporary intensive retraining
courses have been prepared for the current teachers on several oecasions
through which hundreds of existing teachers were endowed with a certificate.l 3)
12) “Comparative Religion," “ History of Religions," and “ Korean Religion" were required as core courses in the very beginning of this accrediting program. Recently the requírements have changed and 5 among 11 courses are required ín addition to the courses of education. The 11 courses are “ Introduction to Religious Studies," “ World Religion" or “ H istory of Religions" or “Comparatíve Religion ," “Korean Religion," “ Religious Education ," “ Phenomenology of Religion ," “ Philosophy of Religion," “ Socíology of Re,ligion" or “Anthropology of Religion ," “ Psychology of Religion ," “ History of Religious Studies," “ Rèligion and Scíence" and “Contemporary ReJigion ,"
13) Seoul National University has mainly offered such retraining courses, because it is favored on academic and religious reasons. 1 have also given several lectures in the program and 1 was very much impressed by the teachers' seriousness and their religious maturity.
170 종교와 문화
Here, it may be noted that profound inter-religious dialogues also occurred in
the retraining courses. Let’s imagine a class with teacher-students who are
Buddhist monks, Catholic nuns and Protestant ministers discussing the sacred
and the profane, Freud and the Oedipus myth, African initiation rites and
totemic symbols. There is no longer. a monologue by one’s own religion.
Everything is discussed on the level of inter-religious dialogues. The rettaining
courses usually include fieldtrips with chances to have a live-in experience in
the womb of another religion. Catholic nuns and Protestant ministers were able
to participate in early morning Buddhist prayers with Buddhist monks and
listen to a live voice explanation of the Buddha statute’s true meaning for
Buddhists. The monks were able to see ritualistic similarity between Christian
prayer and Zen. In those moments, all of them came to a collective
consciousness and became one. The retraining course is a kind of initiatory
process for the old parochial teachers to be born again as a regular “ religion"
schoolteacher. They experience the one communitas in the name of a “ religion"
teacher to be accredited by the state.
Furthermore, let’s imagine the “ religion" class for middle and high school
students that the teachers teach on the basis of their inter-religious experiences.
At least, the students can come to encounter the “other name" for the unknown
God and ask the teachers easily, “ Why do Christians seek an invisible God?"
or “ Why do Buddhists pray to a stone Buddha statute with their hands pressed
together?" Then they can afford to adm it, “ How wrong they were to have
misunderstood and thought of the other as an id이 worshipper!" and “ How
badly they have hurt each other!" At last, changed teachers can change
students. In turn, changed students can also change the future of a society.
V. Problems and Prospects of Official
Religious Ed ucation in Korea
Of course, it cannot be said that religious education as an official education
Inter-religious Conflicts and Religious Education in Contemporary Korea 171
has been successful enough in contemporary Korea. There are still a lot to be
desired. We should be reminded of the fact that the regularization of “ religion"
curriculum was not intended for only the students of religiously estabHshed
schools, but for all the Korean middle and high school students. That is, the
real issue was whether the regularization could also be applicable to the
students of public schools and non-religious private schools. But there has so
far been no case of non-religious schools offering the “religion" course as their
regular elective curriculum.
If a school is actually to offer a “ religion" course as an elective, the school
has to offer another elective course besides the “religion" course ánd give
students room for choice, as it was mentioned above. That is also why (publìc
or privllte) non-religiously established schools do not offer a “religion" course:
they are burdened with employing another teacher and forming another class.
Another reason is the fact that there is still no “ religion" textbook free of any
particular religious background.
On the other hand, there has been no religiously established school that has
nòt offered a “ religion" course. Furthermore, the religiously established schòols
offer only a “religion" course as a regular elective curriculum and not any
other elective course for students' choice. They have justified this by making a
poor excuse that there are not enough students to take other elective courses.
Therefore, it seems ttue that a “ religion" course is legally the regular elective
curriculum for the general education of the middle and high schools, but
actuaHy it has indeed become a veη special curriculum to be taught only in
religiously established' schools in Korea these days.
Moreover, it should be noted that students are usually allocated to their
middle and high s야100ls by means of a computer drawing system in Korea
today. Accordingly, a non-religious student can be allocated to a religiously
estab!ished school, while a religious student is often allocated to a non-religious
school. Even a Buddhist student has been reluctantly allocated to a Protestant
school and a Catholic student to a Buddhist schoo l. It must be unconstitutional
to forcibly send students to a school that does not fit their religious
172 종교와 문화
disposition. Of course, a student is usually aIIowed to be absent from the
“ religion" class and other religious activities, if he is insistent on not attending.
However, it is indeed not easy for such a student to ,resist and still attend
schoo l.
In this context, it is said that the “ religion" curriculum should go beyQnd the
old parochial mission-oriented tendency and toward a new academic,
self-cultivating and humanistic direction in the future , even if gradually. That
is, the “ religion" course in middle and high schools should be helpful for
educating students to have a sound religious sense to have the students
understand the contemporary Korean multi-religious situation and to help them
to live harmoniously in it. The first step now would be to create a
non-parochial “ religion" textbook, which could be used in non-religiouslv
established schools.
ln fact, religion tends to be contrasted with scientific knowledge and thus
has been excluded from academic subjects for official education since the
beginning of the modernization in Korea. But the official religious education
through the regular “ religion" curriculum is thought to have played a very
important role in overcoming con f1icts caused by religious prejudices. In this
sense, the definite social need and the usefulness of an official religious
education seems to have been increasingly acknowledged.
We might realize that if there is too much dynamics bringing about conflict
in a multi-religious society, official religious education can be a good soothing
mechanism. The regularization of religion curriculum can be j above all, said to
be one of the most effective embodiments of such religious educational efforts,
because it invites various kinds of dimensions for inter-religious dialogues. At
least, the Korean case may be heuristic and also suggest a creative model for
the other countries that are struggling with religious conflicts today.
(03/08/2005)
lnter-religious Conflicts and Religious Education in Contemporary Korea 173
<Abstract>
Inter-religious Conflicts and Religious
Education in Contemporary Korea
Kim, Chong-suh
Contemporary Korea is a multi-religious society. Naturally, large or small
scale conflicts arise between religious groups. Moreover, inter-religious troubles
related to the educational system such as educational ideologies, textbook
contents and forced chapel attendance have often caused social conflicts.
Most of the problems derive from mutual ignorance about the religion of
other groups. Thus, religious education is important, for it offers a chance to
learn about other religions.
Significantly, middle and high schools in Korea have included ‘ religion ’
courses into their regular curricula since 1982. The regularization has provided
different religious groups with opportunities to get together in order to newly
develop a common curriculum of ‘religion ’, to create new textbooks and to
train teachers. It has resulted in inter-religious dialogues on various dimensions.
Korea’s case is heuristic and thus might offer a creative model for the
improvement of religiously conflicting structures in other societies.